The Perfect Weekend

I want to tell the story of this past weekend, but before I do it, some words.

So, I realize that when I say “perfect,” some image or set of images immediately populates your thoughts. Perfection is different for everyone, and I believe, if I were to have another perfect weekend, it would be different than this past one. Because for that next weekend, my definition of “perfection” will have changed. Why? Well, I will be a different person. Time passes, and it scathes us. Sometimes deeply, sometimes lightly, but we are always changed by its passage. This version of Coy won’t exist in a month or two. Your version of you, also, will be different. Likely only a very little. But that change will and does impact our ability to experience events and also how we interpret external triggers. An example: I used to hate bleu cheese. Now, I love it. I can’t tell you when that happened, or why, but it certainly did.

Enough philosophy. Now, for the weekend in question.

Friday Evening

Friday I wrapped up work and had a normal dinner. Nothing extraordinary…just normal. Teresa had a party, Anne was embroiled in her house-sitting gig, so it was just Emma and me. On a complete whim, we decide to go see “Inside Out,” the latest Pixar film. SO. EXCELLENT. I just absolutely go nuts over Pixar films…the only one I haven’t liked is “Cars 2,” and it was the only one to receive less than 50% at Rotten Tomatoes. All others…excellent. “Inside Out?” BRILLIANT. Immediately in my top 5 Pixar, maybe even top 3 (“A Bug’s Life” and “The Incredibles” will be hard to unseat). Anyway, it’s Emma and I, soda, candy (I went with Mike & Ike’s), and a great movie. We laughed, we resisted crying at the “heartstring” moments, and just had an awesome time. Also, I love spending time with just me and the girls…either both of them or singly, doesn’t matter. Family time is great, but when it is “just Dad,” the dynamic is different. We talked about the movie the entire ride home. A great evening.

Saturday Morning

As almost everyone knows, I like to ride my bicycle. And lately, I have upped my rides/week dramatically. My personal goal is 100 miles per week, with one big(ish) ride (by my standards, anyway) early Saturday morning. The rest of the family likes to sleep in, so the impact to them is negligible. I got up early Saturday, and decided I was going to ride two of my favorite roads in El Dorado county, Malcom Dixon and Deer Valley. Deer Valley ends in Rescue, CA, and that point is about 17 miles from my front door. The weather was the best…not too hot with just enough breeze to cool me off on the climbs, without slowing me down otherwise. When I get to Rescue on this ride, I typically go up Ponderosa Rd. and turn towards Cameron Park at Pondo High School. So I did that. I rode through CP and El Dorado Hills on my way back home and finished my ride with one last grunt of a climb up Wilson Dr., just off of EDH Blvd. 44-ish miles total, 3K’ of climbing, and my legs and lungs felt great the whole way. The ride was…perfect.

Saturday Evening

Saturday afternoon was spent driving to Berkeley to attend the 25th wedding anniversary party of my longtime friend and his wife, David & Arlene. A couple of weeks prior, David had asked if I would like to sing at their party, and picked two songs from Sacred Harp, Canon and Rose of Sharon. Canon is not particularly difficult, but Rose of Sharon is a BEAR, and I had never sung it before. In typical Coy fashion, I didn’t look at it until the Wednesday before the party, which is when I realized how difficult it was going to be. I found out on Thursday that there would be about 12 singers, so my trepidation lessened. Also, on Thursday, David asked me if I would provide one of the toasts prior to cutting the cake. Of course, I was immensely honored. ANYHOO, we got to the Hillside Club (pictured) early, but the party arrived not long after we did. We sat with David & a large portion of his family (David’s dad is just the coolest). The two songs opened the ceilidh, we ran through them quickly out on the porch, and the performance went off flawlessly. Did I mention that we pitched them differently? We pitched them differently (sopranos. psh). After the ceilidh came the cake. David’s father toasted first, and he was funny and charming. I was next. I had written my toast on Friday, so I had it on my iPad. Look…I don’t want to brag…but, well. It was GREAT. The audience laughed at the right bits, it said what I wanted it to say, and I didn’t fall over or choke on my drink. We ate cake, we laughed with David, Arlene, and his family, we watched English/Scottish country dance, and had the best time. We got home tired, but happy.

Sunday

Many of you also know that I am the worship minister at Cordova Church of Christ. This means I plan each Sunday’s worship, select the songs, design and build the slide deck, and quite often I lead the congregational singing for two services, as well as make sure that sound, lights, and the praise team are all in place. This Sunday was no different from that respect, but it was Father’s day AND the closing Sunday from a week-long kids camp that is hosted on campus by staff and volunteers. Both services went really well, we had two baptisms at the beginning of second service, and afterwards my family took me to lunch at Nemo Sushi (I KNOW). Which was excellent. The sashimi choice by the chef was just spectacular. After lunchI caught a quick nap and went back to the church building to help with the “Closing Camp” festivities, which includes a time for the kids, a dinner, a picture slideshow, etc. When I got home, I forced the girls to watch “Top Gun” with me on Netflix. The mid-scene groaning by modern young women during the viewing of the film was SUBLIME. Phrases like, “He’s flexing? Why is he flexing?” and “Again with the song?” peppered the movie. My personal favorite: “Why is she licking his chin? GROSS!”

The Card

After the movie, I opened the card that Anne had for me. I’m not going to share the text of the card, but I have to say that reading that card was one of the best moments of my life. I really don’t have words to describe it…I’ve read it 40+ times since last night, and it impacts me each time. She is a beautiful child, and her sentiment was incredibly moving. And those words don’t begin to describe her, or the card. I feel like I should say more about it, but the words won’t come. Only chin quivers.

That was my perfect weekend. Sometimes, it really is too bad that Monday has to follow a weekend, but I would probably appreciate it less if it had been longer. But probably not. Cause it was perfect.